I subscribe to the theory you never wear another man’s uniform, which is one reason why I don’t buy or wear team jerseys. One exception is my Syracuse Bulldogs sweater. Its part of a Halloween costume the year I went as Oglethorpe. I wore the jersey, and a giant afro wig. For about 15 minutes. Anyhow, having said that, the Carolina Hurricanes unveiled their third jersey today, and I gotta say its pretty fucking sweet. I might consider lifting my ban on wearing and buying another man’s uniform. I love the hockey stick flag pole, and how the emblem looks like its being blown by Hurricane force winds. Kudos to the all black deign too. Really sharp. Did you know the only other teams in the NHL to never have donned a third Jersey? New Jersey (obviously. That would be fun and God forbid Lou have any fun) and the Detroit Red Wings. It’s true. You can look it up. I think Boston was going to do another third this year. I saw a design of it on TV and it looked pretty snazzy too. Still, Carolina really captured the spirit of the thing here. Tell you guys what. Trevor Gillies makes the big club; I will get a third jersey with his number on it. I swear, I’m not mental.

June gets a little busy for me. It’s the end of the second quarter at work, and it’s usually one of the busier times. See, I work in IT sales, and despite what you may hear on the news, there is not a recession on. As such, people with purchasing power want to get a lot of purchase done now, so the minions will have something to do and report back to him on when he returns from his week on the Cape for 4th of July. What I’m trying to say is June is tough. Plus, I work for a publicly traded company, so anyone that also works for a public company can relate as to being slaves to Wall Street. They say jump, we say how high. As such, there is extra pressure from the higher ups to stay late, and drive results and so on. I have not had much time to come home and write on this blog like I would like too, but with Rush’s “Working Man” playing, and me drinking a “Working Man’s Brew”, Miller High Life, I find myself hard at work on this blog once again. You can call me the working man. I guess that’s what I am.

I hope everyone’s having a great summer so far. I’ve been busy, but enjoying myself. I’ve been thinking about what I should write on Goonblog a lot lately. You see, I am inspired to write almost every day. Like for instance. Goonblog favorite, Tom Rowe was promoted to Assistant Coach in Carolina. I had an idea about a post congratulating him, as well as predicting he will be the head coach by the All Star break next season. Didn’t happen. Staying in Carolina, I’d get to their camp if you can. The Canes acquired Darcy Hordichuk, and re signed Trevor Gillies. The chances of those two NOT having a go in Camp are as good as me NOT sleeping with Jenny McCarthy . In other words, bet on it. Again. That post didn’t happen.

I’d say the biggest thing I wanted to post about, is the Boston Celtics. No, seriously. I have not lost my mind. There will be no name change to KGBlog, or whatever. In fact, I didn’t even get on the bandwagon. I mean, as a Bostonian, or Masshole in general, I am happy they won the title. Let’s put it this way, I’m glad they won the title. It really didn’t have enough bearing on my life to sway me from happy or sad. For me watching the Celtics accept their trophy in the Garden with streamers coming down around made me think, “I wish that were the Bruins.” For those of you scoring at home, here’s how they look in terms of last titles won for big four in Boston.

• Celtics 2008
• Red Sox 2007
• Patriots 2005
• Bruins 1972

As a diehard Bruins fan, that is a tough pill to swallow. In 1972, the team on the bottom of that list could have arguably been the most relevant in the town. Now? I am sure some people aren’t even aware there is still a pro hockey team in Boston. Watching the Celtics win the title made we want the Bruins to become relevant again in the worst way. I mean, could you imagine if the Bruins won it all? For me, I’d be gone. I would be off the reservation for at least a week. Here’s the thing. They are a couple of pieces away from being a very good hockey team, but I think ownership cares more about the Celtics going deep and reaping the rewards of concession stand sales, then actually shelling out their own money to have a team go deep in the playoffs. I think for us Bruins fans, the only time we will see the Black and Gold hoist Lord Stanley ’s Cup, is when the DNC sells the team. I don’t know if I will be alive to see it.

To quote John Winger: “And then, depression set in.” After Screwy and I are done drying our eyes, and the last team member has retired to the dressing room to drink from Lord Stanley that’s when it’s real. I am stuck with stupid baseball until September. Oh and the Celtics are in the finals, which is cool I guess, but I really can’t stand basketball. My Celtics fan friends all want me to pick the Lakers in six, because I had the Penguins in six, so they like the reverse jinx angle. So, there you go. I’m predicting the Lakers in six. They are playing the Lakers right? This really sucks. I am glad I have the NHL Network because the AHL finals are still going. It looks like Chicago is going to handle Wilkes/Barre easily though, and then it’ll all really be over. MOL is happy. I am not.

Overall, I think this hockey season was a good one. I didn’t’ write enough here, and that will change next season. I took a new job at work in October, and that on top of buying the house, figuring out how to be a husband, and my love of being in a gin mill, killed my productivity here. For next season I promise more running diaries of the games, and I recently bought a microphone, so I am going to try a Podcast. I think I am turning into a nerd. So, like I said, the season wasn’t bad. The beloved Bruins surprised me. Milan Lucic is my favorite player EVAH, and Shawn Thornton really had some great bouts in the second half of the season. YouTube continues to be a favorite spot. I love the Gillies/Mirasty tilts out there. It was nice to see Gordie Dwyer on American soil for a little bit. I am telling you, there aren’t many guys as engaging and friendly as him. I’d like the AHL to pay more because Lowell could sure use a guy that can skate and hit like him. Oh, and the Devils? They suck. Bad. Plus they are boring. They could use a guy like Dwyer to add some personality. So that’s it for 07-08. I’m really into birding these days (no kidding) so I’ve got my feeder to keep me occupied. I need some more, and a good bird book to help me identify what I am looking at. So far at my feeder I have seen a squirrel, and a chipmunk. Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, and a bunch of brown birds. Oh, and the fattest Blue Jay since Frank Thomas! HI OH! Congratulations to the Red Wings have a great summer all. I wish it was September.

This is some fight between Goonblog favorite, Trevor Gillies and Jon Mirasty. This is round two for these guys, and it came after a questionable hit. Reason number 84 million why fighting should not be outlwaed in this game. As an aside, Mirasty was on a PTO with Lowell a few years ago, and played one game. I never got to see him, and that makes me sad. Enjoy this one boys.

The first annual Hockey Week in Acton is over. I did four games in four nights, and watched another three on television. The highlight was obviously Saturday’s tilt against Washington. MOL, my brother and I were there for the old time hockey showing in Boston. I actually called it in Halftime Pizza that they would go right off the hop, and damn I am glad I was right. Lucic is now officially a God in Boston. Some other highlights and low lights of the week.

-The woman in Ray Bourque’s entourage in Lowell last Wednesday. I don’t know if it was Chris’s girlfriend, or his daughter, or who the hell she was, but she was easily one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Jaw droppingly hot.

-Seeing Trevor Gillies wearing the Captain “C” in Worcester Friday night. I don’t think anyone wanted a piece of him. Tom Rowe loves him, and it was cool to see.

-I still can’t get over how disrespectful the Toronto fans were during the National Anthem Thursday.

-Speaking of Thursday. That was the worst game of the week. Here they are in order. Worst to first.
Bruins vs. Toronto
Bruins vs. Washington (Monday)
Bruins vs. Florida
Bruins vs. New York
Albany vs. Worcester
Lowell vs. Hershey
Bruins vs. Washington (Saturday)
Bruins have a lot of games upcoming, and they look out of gas. If they make the playoffs, it’ll be one and done I feel. I am looking forward to the tilt Saturday against Philly. I’d give a lot to be there. Anyone that can hook me up, I’d give them a free Goonblog T-shirt? No?

Hey gang. MOL and I just got back from the Bruins game. I am not as offended by the Bruins play as I am by the Toronto fans behind us. The Leafs KILLED Boston. I have only a slight problem with that. The Bruins’ game has gone to shit at the worst possible time. I wish that was my biggest problem.

When I go to the Bruins, or any event for that matter, I make sure I am there for the National Anthem. Sometimes when it is two American based teams I can maybe stand still in the aisle when Rene belts out The Star Spangled Banner. I always remove my hat, and I do not move until the singer stops the drawn out braaaaaaaaave. It’s what you are supposed to do as a good American. I love our anthem and I love being an American.

When a team from north of the border is in town, I make sure I am in my seat for the anthem. I think the Canadian National Anthem is one of the most beautiful songs. While not Canadian, I sing along to every word, and I do so out of respect. Before the tilt tonight, all the Leafs fans behind us emplored us to stand up and be respectful. They all sang loudly, and proudly as Rene did their Anthem and Country proud. I sang along quietly as I do and had my usual smile on my face as I love the song, and I knew my favorite song was next.

As Rene started into my anthem, the Toronto fans behind me proceeded to talk about the game upcoming through our entire song. I am a well disciplined Marine, so I stood at attention hand over heart and stewed as it kept going on throughout the whole song. Red Thunder can attest to not “Squaring Away” someone being disrespectful to our anthem while standing at attention. MOL was even slightly bothered, and she lives with me so you know it takes her a lot to get going. The song ended and I said, so they could hear me, “What the fuck? We were quiet through their song.” Some ass face said something rude, and I settled in to watch the Bruins get lambasted. There was zero point in saying anything to them, and I was with my wife and her lovely friend, so there was also no point in pressing the issue.

The Goonsquad prides themselves on being Ameridan. We love all hockey playing nations, especially Canada and America. I hear stories about the “Ugly Americans” around the world, and I do not want to turn this into a political blog, but tonight, I was seated with some “Ugly Canadians”. If you guys are on the road in America remember there are two anthems to be played. Try to show some respect for both.

As an aside. The current tally for Hockey Week in Acton is below. I may scrap this event due to poor showing.

Bruins: 0-3. Outscored 19-4. 2 fights (although the Chara Brash fight really wasn’t much)
Devils: 1-0. They won 4-1 after two VERY boring periods last night. 0 fights.

Overall record: 1-3. I’ll be in Worcester tomorrow to see Albany take on the Sharks. I have no rooting interest in this game other than I want to see Trevor Gillies go nuts on someone. You’ll recognize me as the fat kid that didn’t move during our national anthem.

This may very well be the last week I am a married man. MOL is going to be put to the test for hockey week. I think moving forward I will designate the first week in March “Hockey Week.” Canada has Hockey Day, I’m going one better with a whole week. Check the schedule this week. It’s perfect.

Tonight starts the week off with the surging Bruins taking on the new look Washington Capitals. My favorite Capital of all time? Tom Rowe. Followed closely by Randy “Stumpy” Burridge.

Tomorrow the Bruins return home to face the Florida Panthers. Let me just say this about the Panthers. Nathan Horton would look awesome in the Black and Gold. MOL is working until 11. I am unsupervised. I think I may eat a shit load of wings, and do a running diary for you guys.

Wednesday I will be in Lowell as the Devils take on the Hershey Bears. Maybe Ray Bourque will be there, and I can give him a Goonblog shirt. Or, maybe he’ll back his ass into me again.

Thursday MOL and I are going to Boston for the Bruins and Leafs. I love going to Leafs games because all the transplants come out of the woodwork, and it makes me think of the time Janet wondered aloud during a game, “Hey, shouldn’t it be the leaves”? Classic.

Friday will find me in Worcester as the Albany River Rats come to town. I haven’t seen our old pal Trevor Gillies nearly enough this year, so this is a perfect fit. I hope he goes ape shit on someone.

Saturday my brother is coming up for the 1 O’clock tilt against the Capitals. I take him to a Bruins game every year for his birthday. MOL is coming as well. My favorite quote about this game so far.

Me: So, the game is at 1.
Brother: (after a long pause.) 1 huh? Jeez. That’s means I’ll have to leave at like 7 to get to The Fours for 11.

Good times will be had by all.

Sunday the Bruins take on the Rangers, and I see myself unable to sustain verticality with a cold one in Acton. That’s most likely when MOL is going to snap, so please, does anyone have a couch I can watch the rest of the game on? Enjoy your week boys. I know I’ll enjoy mine!

Anyone watching the Bruins game last night saw a dandy between New Jersey’s David Clarkson, and Boston’s “Scary Tough” Milan Lucic. It started with a minute left in the first when Lucic and Clarkson went into the end boards together. Alberts worked the puck out, and the boys decided it was time for a go behind the play. The fight was slow to start as they were both hanging on to each other behind the goal. Then as they started drifting from out behind the goal it got started with Lucic and Clarkson throwing some hard right hands at each other. They both took a couple and Clarkson missed with a big uppercut. As the fight wound down and they traded a couple more shots, Lucic landed a huge straight hand right that stunned Clarkson. He called for the Linesman to get in and the tilt was over. TKO Lucic.

I like this fight for a couple of reasons. David Clarkson is my kind of player. I saw him quite a bit in Lowell last year and he gives an honest effort every night. He never takes a shift off, in his play, or his mouth. He gets under everyone’s skin, and is not afraid of anyone. I think he’d look awesome in the black and gold.

Milan continues to impress me as well. He’s getting better at the hockey aspect of the NHL game every time out, and boy is this kid some kind of tough? Shawn Thornton called him “Scary Tough”, and went on to say “He’s going to be bad news for a lot of people in this league when he figures out how tough he is.” That’s a pretty ringing endorsement from a pretty tough customer himself. Right it looks like Lucic is trying to get himself a place on the mantle with other Boston cult heroes like, Stock, Jonathan, and Shoebottom. (He more for his last name and the fact people used to whip shoes on the ice when he fought. That’s brilliant genius. Imaging whipping off your shoes at last night’s game. Enjoy the walk back to the car.)

I’m off to work now, and then up to the Paul tonight for Albany’s return visit. Hopefully Trevor is all wound up. Tweener, MOL and I are going to the Bruins Saturday. I have never seen the Bluejackets play. As always, I’ll be the fat kid in the Goonblog T. Stop by and say hi.

I am not sure if I mentioned my new PC kicks serious ass. Well if I didn’t, I am telling you now. This thing kicks serious ass. I am watching highlights from last night’s games on the NHL network while typing this. This thing is very cool. Right up until they started showing the highlights of the Bruins game last night. Nice fucking pass Chara. I guess the highlights aren’t really my computer’s fault right? No. Not at all. I also know I liked my Sony at first, but that turned out bad. Ever date, or just bang a really hot girl that was all booked up on crazy but she was hot and looked really good but you still had the whole crazy factor there and it eventually got so bad you had to break up with her before she stole your dog or something? Well, that was my old Sony. Looked great, booked up on crazy. This thing is hot and lets me watch hockey. Not even MOL does that. I hope she doesn’t read this.

Last night featured some real heavyweight tilts in the American Hockey League. Trevor Gillies and Jon Mirasty had a real slugfest in Albany. Lots of punches traded and landed. Trevor got knocked down at the end of the tilt, but it’s hard to say if it was from a Mirasty punch, or if he slipped. I saw win Gillies, but you could make a case for either guy. Great tilt though. I am really bummed out Mirasty never got a shot in Lowell. That would make the fans want to come to one of the prettiest arenas in the whole league, and that’s fucking crazy talk!

Speaking of Lowell, former Lockmonster Kip Brennan, and current Devil Pierre-Luc LeBlond had a dandy as well in Bridgeport. These heavyweights traded lots of rights, and kept going into the late rounds. They were finally separated after trading heavy rights, hanging on, trade a right, hang on; trade a right….they both gave it their all. I call it a draw. Maybe a slight advantage to Kip Brennan. I am headed to Lowell for the Manchester tilt in about an hour. Hopefully Manchester’s Paul Crosty or Kevin Westgarth is feeling frisky.

I am coming to you live from the new Goonblog HQ on the other side of Acton! MOL and I moved last weekend, and we finally got cable installed Friday morning. Manny and the boys hooked me up for my plasma with a brand new HDMI cable, so I am now actually getting real HD. It’s awesome. I gave him and his buddy 5o bucks for a great install. I hope they spent it on beer.

With Internet and cable installed, I am typing this on my new HP desktop I scored through our employee purchase plan at work. To say this is a bad ass machine is an understatement. Quick highlights. PD 3.4 gig processor. 2X300 gig hard drives. 4 Gig memory. DVD everything. Here the capper: 21” HDTV LCD monitor. I have it hooked up to the cable box, so I can come in here and watch the games in HD while MOL enjoys Brothers and Crap, or Desperate Housewives or whatever the hell else is on. I am psyched. This machine is bad ass.

Moving on to the business at hand. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. This ’07 edition was a bit of a departure from my normative behavior around this time of year. I look forward to the night before Thanksgiving all year. It is by far my favorite holiday. Usually I drink my face off with people I hadn’t seen since the Thanksgiving prior and old friends I hang with all year. There is always someone totally random that shows up (Susan in ’06.) that makes the evening a lot more interesting. This year however, was a bit different. For starters, the only person that may enjoy Thanksgiving more than me, and newly minted US Citizen, Dave, was up in the motherland. To say I missed him around this year was an understatement. He has been the best at keeping in touch with everyone, so he always plans the best events. It was not the same without him around. Secondly, the red house is no more. Jim and James packed it in and moved to Sommerville, so that was out. Thirdly, I went to the Lowell Devils game the night before, and drove to my brother’s in Connecticut Wednesday night. It was an odd Thanksgiving, but at the same time, I liked it. It was nice to be able to actually EAT turkey, and have a normal conversation with people. As well as I got to hang with my Niece and Nephew, which is always a blast. Still though, some traditions must live on, so I am announcing it early. Mark your calendars now. The night before Thanksgiving next year will be right here at Goonblog HQ! Dave, I better see you at 4:30 brew in hand.

Although the Holiday was a bit different, it did afford me a lot of hockey action featuring two Goonblog favorites over the years. Wednesday I was in Lowell for the Pirates tilt. Gordie Dwyer was in the house, but not dressed for the game. I spoke with him for about 20 minutes, and it was great to see him. I would have to say he is the nicest kid I have ever met in hockey. He talked of his chance in Portland, and Sweden last year. He spoke of the family, and they are well. I’m not mental or anything, but it was good to see him and have a few minutes to talk to him. I hope they sign him up there because he deserves the shot.

Friday marked the return of Trevor Gillies, and Tom Rowe to the Paul. Tom has always been very high on Gillies, and signed him this off season. Gillies played about 10 shifts and took a bullshit charging call. I was close enough to hear him screaming at the clock operator, penalty box attendant, and hell anyone that would listen. He was yelling, “How can you guys watch these guys?! What a bunch of pussies! You haven’t had anyone tough here for 6 years since I left!” Everyone got a good chuckle out of it, but sadly, he is right. Later after getting in a fight with Lowell’s Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre with 3 minutes left in the third he chose to stay in the box as opposed to retiring to the dressing room. Gillies was heated because he felt JLGP had jumped him late in a shift as opposed to waiting for a draw. The fight was a good one in which Gillies landed some good hard shots, but JLGP landed some of his own too. I think he may have even cut Gillies on the chin. I would say it was a win for Gillies, but JLGP handled himself nicely. Being back in the box afforded Gillies more time to scream and yell, and when Lowell’s Mark Fraser took two near the end of the game, Trevor took the opportunity to yell over to Fraser. This I could also hear. He said, “He Fraser. Tell your boy to get me off a draw next time, not when I’ve been out there for 2 minutes. He’s a fucking coward!” It was pretty hilarious, and Fraser even managed a dry smile. While I agree it goes against the code to get a guy late like that, I think Trevor would have had more beef if it was one of the leagues real tough guys. Not some wanna be tough guy with two hyphenated names.

Yesterday was game three for me in Lowell, and it featured Gordie Dwyer again. This time he played, and he didn’t look too bad. Gordie is a surprisingly good skater for a rough and tumble winger, and gives an honest effort every shift. He took a crappy minor for elbowing, but other than that, there was no rough stuff from him. Lowell also actually played another hyphenated player, Pierre-Luc LeBlond. It was the first time I’d seen him play for Lowell, and he didn’t look out of place at all. Decent skater, and plays crash and bang. They should take note of the lineup they had yesterday and play it more often, as they finally won a fucking game, and looked interested in playing. Tonight is the Flyers and Bruins in the first tilt since Bergeron was sent into the press box for the rest of the year. I’d like to see an old Broad Street Bullies vs. The Big Bad Bruins type game, but in the new NHL, I am not sure that’s possible. Either way, I’ll be tuned in at the All New Goonblog HQ!